HOT ROD has long talked about how cool it would be to build a NASCAR-style car for the street. We were hoping to help jump-start a trend, but few people have taken the bait. Rick Stanton, however, did it perfectly. There are street cars with the paint, wheels, and stripped interior to evoke the raw power of '60s NASCAR race cars, and then there's Rick's Torino Talladega. This is as close to a NASCAR-spec car as the state of California will allow someone to slap a tag on. And you better believe that Rick drives it on the streets of Orange County when he's in the mood. But this isn't a big-paycheck car that was put together in a year or so; it's a product of utter persistence for the past couple of decades and adherence to a dream of youth. Rick had lusted after a Talladega ever since the first time he saw one running in NASCAR's big league, but once he actually sat in one at a local dealer and looked out over the extended and drop-nosed hood, he was fully hooked. He swore one day he'd have one of his own, but the Talladega that Rick wanted, Ford never built.

2/17Is it a radical street car or a race car? Yes.

Back in 1969 Ford and Dodge were the front runners in NASCAR competition. Ford's new Torino fastback that debuted in 1968 was an effective design, but Dodge's Hemi-powered Chargers still had it outgunned. Since NASCAR had banned Ford from using the 427ci SOHC motor, Ford regrouped and decided to come to the track in 1969 with a new engine and a new body. The slippery Torino fastback worked well, but wind-tunnel testing showed that the nose was producing excessive drag. To combat this, Ford extended the Torino's front fenders by about 5 inches and drooped them. The grille was flush-mounted, and the front bumper was swapped for a rear one that was cut and reshaped to fit closely to the body. To skirt NASCAR's minimum-height rule, Ford rolled the rocker panels an inch higher so the Torino could be lowered another inch. The resulting car was named after the newly opened Superspeedway in Alabama, and the Torino Talladega was born.

In those days Stock Car racing revolved around production vehicles, so to homologate the Talladega for NASCAR racing, Ford had to produce at least 500 cars for the public before it was allowed to compete. Unfortunately, since homologation rules were separate for the car and the engine, John Q. Public would never get his hands on a factory Boss-powered Talladega. Production cars had a 428 CJ and most were automatics, while the wicked Boss 429 went into a few Mustangs to compete with ZL1 Camaros.

6/17Not exactly mint, but it only set Rick back $2,600.

Through the years Rick gathered parts for the project knowing all along that the only correct engine to put in the car was the Boss '9. Eventually he stumbled upon just the right car in a Southern California junkyard. It was little more than a body sans engine, trans, rearend, and wheels, and there wasn't a straight piece of sheetmetal to be found, but it was all there and rust-free. The pace of the project was slow but steady, as Rick continued to track down the parts he needed. If he'd simply wanted a Talladega with a Street-spec Boss engine, that wouldn't have been so challenging, but Rick's plans had morphed into the desire to re-create one of a handful of Talladegas that did get Boss engines--the actual NASCAR contenders.

Left to his own devices, who knows how long Rick might have lingered on the project, but a spark was lit in January 2004 when he learned there was going to be an Aero Warrior Car reunion at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. In conjunction with the four-day event, on Sunday the Aero Warrior Club would be invited onto the track for a parade lap prior to the start of the big race. Of course Rick's Talladega was nowhere close to completion, and the possibility of the car coming together enough to make the event seemed slim. However, with the chance of a lifetime staring him in the face, Rick and his wife Sherrie made the decision to clear their social calendars and work tirelessly for the next seven months to see if they could make it happen.

7/17The Talladega may have paraded around a few tracks, but our photo shoot was the first time Rick got to really push it on a road course. Though it was designed with big ovals in mind, the Talladega stuck the corners at Willow Springs surprisingly well.

With just five days before they had to leave to make the reunion, with the Talladega in rough primer, Rick started the massively stroked Boss engine for the first time. A noise arose from the bottom end, and Rick and Sherrie's hearts sank. Thankfully, the clatter was found to be a connecting rod barely hitting the windage tray in the dry-sump oil pan. With the help of his friends Dave Arter, Gene Crowell, Brian Bruning, and Jim and Brian Tapscott, the engine was yanked, repaired, and dropped back in just in time to leave two days late for Talladega. The tale has a happy ending, though: Rick did get to the reunion in time to lap the Talladega around its namesake track.

The flames didn't cool afterward. Rick and Sherrie stayed diligent, and in August of this year they took the completed Talladega as it's seen here to another four-day Aero Warrior Car reunion in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Rick got to tread more historic asphalt in a parade lap before the ARCA Race on the famous Milwaukee Mile.

All this just leaves us pondering one thing. We have vintage Trans-Am racing--wouldn't a little vintage NASCAR be double-bitchin'?

Quick Inspection:'69 Ford Torino TalladegaRick StantonFullerton, CA

11/17Unlike their strangled street brethren, the NASCAR-based Boss 429 engines made gobs of horsepower and torque. Rick's has a bunch more cubes from a stroker crank, but almost everything else inside and out on the engine is NASCAR spec, including the breather element that draws air through the cowl vent.

CHASSISSuspension: The front suspension uses stock mounting points with the addition of Afco coilovers and Global West lower control arms. The rear is just as basic with custom seven-leaf springs and Afco shocks.

STYLEBody: The Talladega may have been rust-free but it certainly wasn't cherry, since there wasn't a straight piece of sheetmetal on the car. Damage required the driver door, passenger-side doorjamb, and both quarter-panels to be replaced. Jim and Brian Tapscott of Garden Grove, California, handled the metalwork.

Paint: The car was bathed in PPG Royal Maroon (an original Talladega color) by Pro One in Santa Ana, California.

Interior: The stock dash retains the original Torino gauges with the only addition being a 5-inch Auto Meter Sport Comp tach. Other gauges mounted below the dash are vintage '60s Stewart Warner units. An RCI five-point harness holds Rick in a Kirkey race seat. The rollcage is chrome-moly.